I Saw My Cruel Stepmom Future And Changed It All Chapter 07

I Saw My Cruel Stepmom Future And Changed It All Chapter 07

Seraphina showed up at Hale Manor every single day for the next week.

She brought toys, sat and read him stories, every trick she could think of to force Jasper to warm up

to her.

Jasper hid every single time-either pressed behind my back or locked himself inside his bedroom.

Seraphina never lost her cool, though.

Her patience was unnerving, and she played the perfect gentle mother whenever Kaelen was

watching, never pushing Jasper in his sight.

I ended up looking like the unreasonable, hostile one in Kaelen’s eyes, all because I kept stepping

between her and Jasper to shield him.

On the fifth night, Kaelen called me into his Private Study.

“Elowen, let me give you some honest advice.”

He sat behind his oak desk, fingers steepled beneath his chin.

“Don’t insert yourself too far into this family’s dynamic.”

“What exactly does that mean?”

“Jasper has a birth mother. Seraphina’s returned and wants to take on maternal duties-that’s a good thing. You shouldn’t stand in her way.”

I stared at him, a bitter laugh bubbling up inside me.

Kaelen, are you truly this oblivious, or just choosing not to see?

His eyes turned colder.

Do you have proof she’s only here for selfish reasons?

I froze.

All the warnings from the floating commentary were useless-there was no physical evidence I could hand over to prove my point.

[Kaelen’s such a fool right now!]

[Three weeks ago he didn’t spare this kid a single thought, now he’s lecturing Elowen about

boundaries.]

{He’ll regret this so bad later, he’ll drop to his knees begging forgiveness.]

My hands curled into tight fists.

Fine, I’ll ask you one clear question.

“Speak your mind.”

“If Seraphina files for full legal child custody, will you hand Jasper over to her?”

Kaelen stayed silent three full seconds before answering.

“If it’s what’s best for Jasper-”

“You don’t know your own son at all.”

I spun on my heel and headed for the study door, pausing right before I stepped out.

Kaelen, you haven’t shown up for him the way a dad should.

I couldn’t fall asleep that whole night.

At two a.m., my phone vibrated with a text from Hugo.

Ma’am, Miss Mercer’s attorney reached Mr. Hale this afternoon to file a formal petition for a custody modification. Mr. Hale did not turn them down.

I shot straight upright in bed.

[Here comes the worst plot beat from the timeline!]

[In the original alternate reality, Kaelen agrees to the custody switch right here.]

[Once Jasper’s taken away, he believes everyone abandoned him and fully turns into a future

socially detached antisocial youth.]

[Elowen you have to rewrite this fate!]

I took a deep breath, tossed my covers aside, and walked down the long hallway to Jasper’s Private

Bedroom.

He lay fast asleep, still clutching his worn stuffed linen bunny tight, faint dried tear tracks stuck to

his eyelashes.

I unlocked my phone and pulled up Wynne Reed’s contact number-my college best friend, the

youngest certified family law attorney in the county.

I typed out a quick text.

Wynne, I need you to represent me in a custody battle. The opposing party is the child’s birth mother, and I’m his legal stepmother. I know my legal standing is weak, but I cannot lose this kid.

Three seconds later, her reply popped up on screen.

You wanna fight for custody as a stepmom? Are you out of your mind? Legally, you have no standing.

“I know,” I texted back.

“But he has no one else left in this world besides me.”

“Come to my Reed Family Law Chambers tomorrow morning. We’ll brainstorm every possible legal angle.”

I locked my phone screen, and new commentary drifted across my vision.

[Our heroine’s launching her counterattack!]

[It’s an uphill battle for a stepmom to win custody unless we can prove the birth mother is unfit to

parent.]

[Wait a second-we forgot why Seraphina left in the first place!]

[She didn’t leave out of hardship, she ran off with another man. If we find hard proof, we win this

fight.]

A spark of hope flared in my chest.

That’s exactly what I needed.

Seraphina wasn’t some wronged abandoned wife.

She’d chosen to walk away all on her own.

If I could gather solid proof of her parental abandonment and prove her only motive was money, this fight wasn’t unwinnable.